This card is subtitled "Dark Matter", and shows two crossed swords against a pink blackness, cupped in a crescent which manifestly is not a Moon but is a metal artifact, a woman's blindfolded face resting in the crux of hte swords. One hilt is in darkness, the other is surrounded by a cluster of stars. I sympathise with Chris' and Kay's dilemma on this card: trying to create visuals for something which by its nature has none, must be shocking.

To me, the Two Swords is often about being at crossed purposes, either with myself or with others, but since the RWS image of the blindfolded woman, the idea of being blinkered is very much a part of the larger understanding of this card, and this also comes into play when you *are* at crossed purposes with someone. "Why can't he see what I mean?" "Why can't she see that I'm right?" blindness and darkness abounds, and the clean, clear, reflective Swords of the intellect fight against each other, rather than working together. Where these swords meet there will be a clashing of blade on blade, open and outright conflict of purpose, of vision.

Much of the Dark Matter in the universe is a Mystery - and I use capitals advisedly. Some of it isn't, however. Some astronomers are quite okay with referring to planetoids, planets, black holes comets, and dust-clouds that have not ignited into galaxies, as Dark MAtter, because if they are not reflecting the light of nearby bright matter, they are indeed Dark. The Milky Way, which we see side-on (if you are lucky enough, like Rural Australians, to live in an area of low light-pollution), is banded with a dust-ring, and this is what breaks up the shape of it and makes it asymmetrical and just odd, from an earthbased perspective.

There is, however, no doubt at all, that a huge amount of the theoretical mass of the universe is still unaccounted for, even if there is a tremendous amount of familiar-but unignited dark matter around. Something odd is happening. In one of his books, Terry Pratchett had a go at explaining it as all the missing socks, paperclips and biros, and in another of his books, it was the weight of the records kept by the auditors on every facet of the running of the universe - anyone who knows about auditing, knows that the weight of the paperwork is at least fifteen times the weight of the whole organisation being audited!

We simply don't know. We are blindfolded on this matter. How are you blinkering yourself?

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